


Looking for Her

by Krapfire



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Gen, Pack Street Fanverse, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:00:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23221351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krapfire/pseuds/Krapfire
Summary: The Savage Crisis is over. Life is back to normal for the residents of Pack Street. Kind of. Wolter still has to look for her.
Kudos: 5





	Looking for Her

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Pack Street](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12141837) by [TGWeaver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TGWeaver/pseuds/TGWeaver). 



An aardwolf walks into his apartment’s kitchen, a large pile of dishes sitting in the sink. He opens the fridge. Empty. It was empty yesterday too. Of course, nothing has changed since then.

This isn’t what he would’ve liked to see when he woke up. His stomach grumbles, begging to be fed. But right now, all he can think of is that he should probably be looking for her. Anneke.

Entering the bathroom to clean himself up, he splashes his face with water. He runs a paw through the fur on his head and neck, smoothing out his dark, fluffy mane. He spritzes a bit of cologne onto his chest and snaps finger guns towards the mirror, flashing a winning smile at his own reflection. Looking good tonight, Wolter. Time to face the world.

* * *

Plenty of mammals at Packer’s Gym tonight. But not the one he’s looking for. At least Avo’s here, doing some exercise on a bench.

Wolter hops onto a bench across of hers, lounging on it like a bed. “Avo! How’s the workout going?” he greets with his sleazy-looking grin, his paws pointing lame finger guns towards the slim Egyptian wolf.

Avo sets her dumbbells down onto the gym floor. “Was going fine until you interrupted,” she answers with a smirk. “So are you just here for the eye candy or are you gonna try the weights for yourself?”

“The view is nice and all, but nah,” Wolter drawls, gazing at Avo’s tail sticking out of her exercise shorts as she bends over to reach for her water bottle on the ground. “Just looking for Anneke. You seen her around here somewhere?”

“Nope. This isn’t really where I’d expect her to be in her free time,” Avo replies, pausing to sip her water. “You sure you don’t want to join in? Look at your arms, getting thinner. At this rate, your scrawny ass won’t even be able to arm wrestle Remmy.”

“Nah, I’m good. But maybe you can join me for another kind of workout. Know what I mean?” Wolter waggles his brows.

“Get real, Wolt,” Avo fires back as she returns to her exercise. “Remmy’s got a better chance with me than you do.”

“Well, think about it, alright?” Wolter winks as he slinks away.

“See ya later, shrimp.”

Nobody seems to know where Anneke went. Walking absent-mindedly through the small crowd of the gym lobby, Wolter wonders whether he should give up trying to find her now. He already spent a few hours looking around Pack Street. She wasn’t at home, or at the library, or at Bug Burga. And Pandora’s Box is still closed. This was a waste of time. All of this is Bellwether’s fault.

A snow leopard resting on a bench catches Wolter’s eye. She dabs a towel at her neck, her fur slightly damp from working up a sweat. Hot. He’ll have to ask her out eventually, when he doesn’t have another girl to think about.

If only Anneke would answer her phone… _Seriously where r u?_ That’s another text message sent. He just wants to go home now. Still, there’s also a part of him that wants to keep searching for her.

Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Wolter passes by a table of assorted snacks, and he notices the little stoat sitting on it, the cute little stoat who always fundraises in the gym. Martina, that’s her name. About half his size, she’s got frizzy brown hair on her head and a pink skirt, and on her table are sports drinks, granola bars, saltine crackers…

Muffins. Delicious little muffins, standing out above the rest by their scent alone. Wolter can already taste them just by looking. His stomach grumbles again. If he can get himself a single muffin, then the trip wouldn’t be a total waste. Anneke would probably want one too.

“Hey there, beautiful,” Wolter flirts, leaning onto Martina’s table. “Lookin’ real cute in that skirt this evening.”

“Oh, Wolter. You charmer,” Martina giggles, fiddling with the hem of her skirt, a slight blush forming on her cheeks. “You don’t have to flatter me every time.”

“Call it a habit. I just gotta say it when something looks good. Like these things here.” Licking his lips, Wolter points to her cardboard box of muffins, his mouth already watering. Looks like some kind of sliced fruit has been mixed into the batter. “Is that blueberry? Smells really nice.” He sits in Martina’s unused chair to get a better look at the baked treats.

“It’s grape actually,” Martina says cheerfully. “And it’s only a dollar fifty. Would you like to buy one?”

“Wow, I didn’t even know grape muffins existed. I thought they—”

His phone buzzes in his pocket, and his attention immediately snaps onto it. Is that Anneke? “Hold on. I gotta check this,” he tells Martina as he unlocks his phone. Yup, it really is a message from Anneke. Finally, it’s the reply he’s been waiting for.

His heart starts pounding as if he had chugged a dozen energy drinks. His mouth splits into a smile so wide that his face hurts. He keeps his eyes peeled as he opens up the message.

It’s a middle finger emoji.

That’s it. Just a fat middle finger on his phone flipping him off. Bummer. He stares at the emoji for a while, his shoulders slumping as he lets out a long sigh, his excitement turned into gloom. A dull pain forms in his chest, as if someone dropped a weight on it. What a disappointment. He shuts off the screen just as Martina catches a glimpse of it.

“Dammit. This suuuuucks,” Wolter groans. He goes limp on Martina’s folding chair, staring up at the ceiling as his body melts onto the backrest.

“It’s not that bad,” Martina says, baffled by his extreme reaction. “I’ve seen worse conversations. It’s— Wolter, are you crying?”

“Uuuugghhhhh… No, I’m not crying,” Wolter sniffs, wiping the corner of an eye. “I… I just miss her. Dammit. This is all Bellwether’s fault.”

Martina hands him a few paper napkins which he ignores. Okay, this is a bit awkward. Listening to a guy sobbing at her snack table is giving her an uncomfortable feeling in her belly. But she knows she’d feel worse if she doesn’t try to console him in his grief. “It-It’s okay, Wolter. Breakups happen. Y-you can find yourself another girlfriend.”

“Haha, no. It’s not about a breakup,” Wolter chuckles through his tears, despite himself. “It’s my sister, Anneke. Just can’t find her.”

“Is she missing?” Martina asks concernedly.

Wolter shakes his head. “Not really, no. But, a couple days ago, I woke up and the fridge was just empty. She— She just… _snff_. She just took all the donuts and cupcakes, and then she left. And she ate all my hagelslag! At first, I was just confused as hell, no idea what happened. I mean, she didn’t even say goodbye. No note, no nothing.”

With unsteady breaths, he rests his chin on her table beside her granola bars. “All this because she’s mad at a sheep. You know Remmy? Nice guy, stutters a lot, covered in wool ‘cept when he shears?”

Sitting on the edge of the table, the stoat nods beside him. “Yes, I met him.”

“I told Annie she shouldn’t be mad at him just cuz he’s a sheep like Bellwether,” Wolter continues, not trying to hide his tears anymore. At this point, he’s just feeling more tired than sad. “Then she got all mad, saying I shouldn’t be taking his side over hers. That was the last time we talked. Haven’t seen her since.

“Now, she’s not answering her phone. I tried texting her too, just asking where she went. You saw what she sent back. Who the hell invented that emoji anyway? It’s stupid. I wanna find his number and just, like, spam him a million middle fingers.” He looks up at Martina, still patiently listening. Around her, mammals around the lobby have started to stare, including the snow leopard from earlier. His chance of getting her number is probably zero now.

Standing up suddenly, Wolter steps away from Martina’s snack table, giving her a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Sorry to bother you. Don’t wanna ruin your fundraiser,” he tells Martina. His paws form finger guns that point more towards the ground than her, and he disappears into the gym’s restroom, leaving her with a worried frown in place of her usual carefree disposition.

Crying in front of a girl was embarrassing. Crying in front of a crowd was humiliating. Flopping onto a table and bitching about his sister in front of everyone was embarrassing _and_ humiliating. And the way he left— what would he call that? Sad flirting?

Leaning heavily on a sink, an aardwolf sobs quietly, alone in the gym restroom. He’s upset. Pissed off. So pissed off at Bellwether. This is her fault. Anneke is also partially to blame, but… No, none of this would have happened without the Savage Hoax.

Wolter starts breathing harder. Everything is Bellwether’s fault. All his current frustrations are her fault. All of it.

She’s the reason that mammals have been going savage. She’s the reason Anneke got mad, the reason Anneke took all the hagelslag, the reason she sent him a middle finger emoji, the reason he left Martina’s table without a muffin, the reason he’s feeling hungry.

And if he never saw his sister again… he knows who to blame.

“Bellwether, you bitch! **FUUUUUCK!!! YOOOOUUUUU!!!** ” he vents, yelling as loud as he can, his screams echoing across the restroom’s thick walls.

His paws turn on the faucet, and he stares at himself in the restroom’s mirror, panting. Deep breaths, Wolter. Calming, deep breaths. That’s enough moping for now.

He splashes water onto his face to wash the sticky tears off his cheeks. He tries to straighten his messy head fur, running a paw through it. It doesn’t work. He snaps finger guns at the grimy mirror, flashing a shaky smile at his blurry reflection. Looking pathetic tonight, Wolter. Time to go home.

By the time he exits the restroom, the gym is mostly devoid of mammals. The snacks on Martina’s table have also been cleared out. Fundraiser’s over. Yawning, the aardwolf slowly heads for the exit, thankful that nobody else will have to see what a wreck he is right now.

“Wolter,” a tiny, high-pitched voice calls to him. He turns sideways, towards a stoat in a pink skirt. For some reason, Martina’s still here, sitting on a bench, her legs swinging back and forth. “I was waiting for you to come out.”

“What, you miss me already?” Wolter quips, hoping she hadn’t heard any of his swearing earlier. “It hasn’t been that long yet.”

Looking up into his bleary red eyes, the stoat giggles, glad that he’s feeling somewhat better, at least good enough for a wisecrack. Hopping off her seat, she holds up a phone bigger than her head, extending it towards him. “You forgot this at the snack table.”

Adorable little angel. “I don’t know how you do it,” Wolter sighs, plucking his phone from her paws.

“What do you mean?” Martina asks, tilting her head innocently. So damn cute.

“How are you still so chipper when your brother’s a total square?”

She laughs, dismissing the criticism of her brother with a wave of a paw. “Oh, he’s not _that_ bad. I couldn’t ask for a better brother!”

“Does he never get mad at you? What about when Bellwether got busted?” Wolter prods. “I mean, me and Anneke, we’re twins! How do you get along better than we do?”

Thinking, Martina places a paw on her chin. “He does get angry sometimes, but never directly at me. I know he’d never hurt me. Because no matter how frustrated he may get, I’m still his sister.” Wolter wouldn’t be able to be mad at this little stoat either. “Besides he helped me make those muffins. How could I not appreciate him? Oh, look here for a moment!” 

Martina points to the bench, a cardboard box resting atop it. “We’ve got some leftovers. I was thinking we could eat them together.”

The muffins! Wolter doesn’t know how he missed them. Peeking into the box, he counts two grape muffins left inside it. Martina climbs onto the bench and pats the spot beside her, gesturing for Wolter to sit with her. She places a muffin into his paws as he plops beside her.

Wolter lifts the muffin towards his muzzle to sniff it. Its fruity smell is still fresh. “Martina, why are you so nice to me?”

“Everybody gets sad sometimes… But that’s okay,” she replies, nibbling her own piece of bread. “It’s okay to be sad, Wolt.” She redirects her gaze at him.

“Now go on and try the muffin already! Tell me how it tastes!” She nudges his arm, beaming at him with radiant eyes. Her cheeriness is just so enthralling, he can’t help but smile back as he takes a bite of his baked treat.

A blend of sweet and sour, absolutely delicious. The moisture of the bread, the juiciness of the grape, the texture, the taste— Everything about the muffin is perfect. “Ohhmmmgod. Thshhgood,” he mumbles through his mouthful. This has to be the first positive thing to happen to him in the last two days. He wipes at one of his eyes again. Is this a tear of joy? “I’m gonna have to visit the gym more, just to see you.”

“Thanks for the compliments. I’m so glad you like it,” Martina chirps, proud of her baking. “I really put a lot of effort into it.”

“Anneke’s really missing out. If she was here, I woulda bought one for her,” Wolter chuckles before taking a bigger bite.

“You must really care about her,” Martina remarks as he chews. “Surely, she cares for you too, right?”

Swallowing, Wolter shrugs his shoulders. “We used to do everything together. Everyone thought it was real cute when we were just kids. Twins walking to school together, doing homework together. Hell, we even went to detention together.”

“Sounds like you two were really close.”

“Yeah, we were,” Wolter mutters. “But now she won’t even have lunch with me. Might be for the best. She binges when she’s stressed. She would’ve eaten all your muffins and left nothing for everyone else.”

Martina laughs suddenly, caught off guard by his joke. Wolter watches as she covers her mouth with a paw, smothering her tiny squeaks. She’s even cute when she’s laughing.

Eventually, Martina’s breathing slows, and she places her half-finished muffin back into the box. She scoots toward Wolter, grabbing one of his paws, her bright little eyes staring up at him. He’s not sure what she’s doing.

“Whatever’s going on between you and Anneke, it’ll get better. Bad things don’t last forever. If you two really are that close, then you’ll eventually make up with each other. You’ll be eating muffins and hagelslag together again in no time.”

“You think so?” Wolter’s voice cracks a bit.

“I’m sure of it. It’s okay to believe in good things, Wolter. You’ll see.” Martina hooks one of her arms around his, her head resting against his bicep.

It’s a hug. It’s been a while since Wolter last had a simple platonic hug. He almost forgot how nice it feels. She leans onto him, and he leans back into her, appreciating her soft, fuzzy warmth.

“Thanks, Martina.”

* * *

An aardwolf walks through the entrance of his apartment building, entering the lobby. A sports channel plays on the TV, a tall lioness spiking a volleyball on the screen. Nice.

The only other mammal in the lobby is Avo, freshly showered, having changed into a yellow sundress, lounging on the couch with a lollipop in her maw. Straight out of the gym and back to devouring sugar. She’s not even watching the TV, just tapping on her phone.

When she notices Wolter, she shifts to a sitting position, turning to face him. “You look like shit,” she deadpans.

“Feeling like it too. But that’s okay,” Wolter drawls with a tired smile. “Cuz I talked with a girl, and she said it’s okay to feel like shit.” He belly flops onto the couch, landing face first into the cushions beside Avo. “Oof. So tired.”

“I found out where Anneke is, by the way,” Avo blurts. Wolter suddenly bolts upright. He gawks at her, his eyes tripling in size, making her cringe from the crazy look. It reminds her of Anneke’s own mix of mad crazy. “She’s been staying with Betty.” His face starts to relax, putting Avo more at ease.

“She’s just right there,” Wolter breathes, easing into the backrest. “She was right there the whole time.” She’s not gone after all. He doesn’t know why he didn’t check the building next door. He could’ve saved so much time if he had. He’s so tired. So very tired.

“What’s going on with you and Anneke?” Avo ponders, not used to this kind of behavior from him. “You look so pathetic right now.”

“Pity me enough to give me a hug?” Wolter asks, placing his head onto her lap. To his surprise, Avo doesn’t immediately push him away as he expected.

“Just this once, I’ll give you a pass,” she sighs, placing a comforting paw on his shoulder.

Wolter snickers. Unbelievable. Sad flirting works. He’s gotta tell Anneke when she comes back. Whenever that is.

But at the moment, he’s ready for a nap. Settling deeper into Avo’s lap, he rests his cheek on her thigh, wrapping her tail around his neck as she gets back on her phone. So comfy and warm. For the first time in a week, he can sleep easy, knowing his sister’s still around.

**Author's Note:**

> "Everybody gets sad sometimes… But that’s okay. It's okay to be sad."


End file.
